Product Details

• Actors: Shazzan, Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour, Valley of the Dinosaurs, Tom and Jerry Grape Ape, Banana Splits Adventure Hour
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009
• Run Time: 316 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002GNOLY0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,688 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While the animation style of the episodes collected here somehow manages to be stiffer than in Hanna-Barbera's previous decade of cartoons, the characters featured in Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s, Volume 2 have more depth and energy than some of their 1960s slapstick counterparts. In the 1970s more people continued to examine race, gender, and class questions, and Hanna-Barbera explored those issues through some of their cartoons. Disc 1 opens with "Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch," starring some bears with a wide enough variety of hair that they could have inspired the musical. In "New Adventures of Gilligan" (with Gilligan's new pet monkey Snubby a lame change from the live-action show), Gilligan and his pals gang up against the Howells when they try to build an elitist resort on the castaways' island. "Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan" stars a Chinese family who sleuth almost as well as Scooby-Doo's crew. "Sea Lab 2020" is a science-oriented educational cartoon about an underwater commune. Disc 2 offers some flops, like "Valley of the Dinosaurs," which paved the way for Jurassic Park (though Sid and Marty Krofft did much better with Land of the Lost). And "Grape Ape" features one of the most idiotic cartoon characters out there. But spliced between episodes of the still-classic "Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show," the bad cartoons can be forgotten. Bugs Bunny and his sometimes-accomplice, sometimes-antagonist duck pal, Daffy, are a wonderfully clever pair. The real highlight in Hanna-Barbera's 1970s dossier, though, is "Shazzan," in which two kids, Chuck and Nancy, discover a magic ring that harnesses a genie. The kids navigate Persian fantasy worlds illustrated with as much mystical imagination as the animated scenes in The Thief of Baghdad. With such variety, and the dynamism Hanna-Barbera achieved with scripts that tapped into then-current social and political issues, a lighthearted "Yogi's Gang" or "Tom and Jerry" episode mixed in here and there doesn't feel too weak. --Trinie Dalton

Product Description

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/27/2009 Run time: 277 minutes Rating: Nr

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show and Banana Splits have arrived! Finally!!, November 3, 2009

By 

Corgi Kid (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2 (DVD)

I just purchased the second volume from the Saturday Morning Cartoons 70's collection. Let me just say that I am quite pleased with this collection. I watched many of these cartoons during the 70's and it brings back many happy memories from childhood. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show and the Banana Splits were the primary reasons of my purchase. The bridging sequences including the introduction to both Bugs Bunny/Road Runner and Banana Splits were not restored. However, I can't complain too much. I am unable to get the Cartoon Network Boomerang channel where I live and have been wanting to watch many of these cartoons for such a long time. I hope Warner Brothers continues to release more collections in the near feature. More Bugs Bunny/Road Runner and Banana Splits please! Also, would like to see the New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Michael Shea (Huck) and Lu Ann Haslam (Becky Thatcher); really campy but from part of the Banana Splits series. Thanks again Amazon!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Definite "A" for effort but some cleaning up to do., January 11, 2010

By 

KAB - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2 (DVD)

I loved this collection, mostly for its variety. The '70s version of Tom & Jerry provided a counter balance for the MGM shorts and I would, honestly, not recommend it to diehard fans of the original but it provided a nice counter balance in characters just the same.

Many of the cartoons in this and the '60s collections were on Cartoon Network perioically during its heyday of airing actual classics and can now occassionally be seen on Boomerang by a much more limited audience, so this collection provides a great trip into the past for these cartoons; some of which have seen DVD releases (Batman), some who have earned DVD releases (Bannana Splits, Shazzan, Sealab 2020, etc.) and some which, quite frankly, might never be heard from again for obvious reasons (Gilligan, HB T&J, etc.)

Again, Warner Brothers gets an A for effort in this compilation. Unfortunately, before some of these 'toons get their individually packaged DVD releases, some clean up must be done. The Gilligan episode is almost watchable save for a very brief clip where the soundtrack is sped up, putting Gilligan on par, verbally, with the Chipmunks (I think he says "YouknowthatnewalarmsystemwebuiltforMr.Howelltokeepouttheintruders?" but I'm not positive). Later, the "Arabian Knights" and "3 Musketeers" segments of the Bannana Splits Adventure Hour are, regrettably, barely watchable beneath the tracking lines. This is unfortunate as the Bannana Splits have stood the test of time to earn their own DVD if the studios would find suitable production material (these shows are still aired on Boomerang quite often, so I know that, with additional effort, Warners could have found episodes in better condition). Also, Shazaan is missing its classic opening though the closing credits and the between episode bumper are still intact.

Again, this was a worthy second attempt by Warner and I hope to see more in the future. But the quality of the material found fell rather short of the first attempt by Warner.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For what it is...A+, October 30, 2009

By 

MEWZIK - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2 (DVD)

My favorite edition of Saturday Morning Cartoons for sure. So, if you don't have Boomerang, or had enough of watching horrid quality internet movies -this is GOLD. At this point though, I'd like to see a proper release with all the episodes of say Shazzan! Grape Ape and Hair Bear Bunch. If there was no market, they wouldn't put it in Cartoon Network programming. Shazzan! is the least seen of all these classics, so what's the point of holding them back to dvd or even download only? The plus is they picked strong episodes here.

Nonetheless, how can this compilation not get five stars? Arrested development accomplished! What would make this better (not that I hold this against anyone) is adding a couple timepiece commercials between the breaks...I'm thinking Happy Meal and bad teeth fall out of your mouth cereal commercials. Exit, Stage Right.